Jung got Social Media
Author: Alasdair Munn
I loved my University years. I was lucky enough to find myself in a relatively carefree and safe environment in which I could explore the world without being exposed to its horrors. There was always an abundance of people wanting to engage in what we considered intellectual pursuits. We could stretch and exercise our brains. There were equal amounts of people who wanted to explore alternative forms of exercise and entertainment too.
My choice of subjects caused some concern. Not to me, I might add. They suited me to the ground. I did not have to learn as much as absorb. Now, almost 20 years later I am finding that my majors, Industrial Psychology and Industrial Sociology are responsible for forming my approach to how I work.
Social media, for me, has to be seen and applied in the context of people and their relationships. Their relationships to themselves and the people around them. Communities, culture, expected norms, values, desires and hopes.
Jung and his concept of The Collective Unconscious particularly enthralled me. My very crude and somewhat dumbed down interpretation of it is we are all connected through a series of universal truths. These truths are manifested and made real through stories and imagery. The underlying message of the stories remains fairly constant. What changes is how those stories are told or manifested. They alter according to our culture, our norms, values, life lessons and physical environment. In the end, we have a collection of wonderful stories, each carrying the same central message, but individually making that message accessible to different audiences, cultures and belief systems.
I spent some time over the Christmas break trying to analyze my approach to social media strategy and integrated marketing. I found that even within specific niche markets I tend to approach it with a multicultural philosophy. By that I do not mean multi ethnic, or even regional. Rather, from the perspective that our life experiences, norms, values and expectations help determine how we see things and how we react to them. For my message to get through I need to take my objectives and understand how to translate those objectives into stories, experiences and truths that you can interpret, understand and react to.
Measuring how effective I am being and constantly bringing that back to my objectives allows the story to stay focused, evolve and create a return.
Who is your Jung? What helped shape who you are today?
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Alasdair! who knew you studied psychology as well? “..we are all connected through a series of universal truths.” indeed, if one where to further exemplify on these universal truths and refer to Jungian archetypes, i would also add that Jung’s principles may in fact serve as a key that can unlock the door to social media ROI.
Since Jungian archetypes, in theory and application, have successfully proposed to provide a workable framework to build psychological models that define, characterize and explain individual and social behaviours, why not fact mimic the same approach when attempting to “quantify” social media?
I ramble on..but i will abstain from getting too pedantic..so glad you posted this. happy 2010
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and which largely reflect a type of consensual understanding, usually based on anecdotal yet empirical observations of common elements among individual and social behaviours, as it were,
@autom8 You ALWAYS add depth and value with your comments. Indeed. I have promised to keep my blog posts lighter and shorter. I had written some fairly clumsy stuff about relating this to ROI but deleted it. I am glad I did not as you have put it in a more concise and accessible way.
I do feel that ROI has to be a combination of what you have described, and a relationship to solid, more traditional measurements.
Happy 2010 to you too!
I understand that people love social media, but lets face it it is nothing but a time waster. It must cost business millions per year in lost productivity
Thanks for visiting Calgary Web Design. I think your view is echoed by many. The danger lies when a narrow view is taken of social media. Many people use the terms social media and social networks synonymously. As a result the time wasting tag sticks. When you take a broader view of social media you can see it provides businesses with essential tools that go beyond chatter on networks and PR. I am not questioning the issue of lost productivity, but I will ask you to consider the millions per year gained in productivity through using the tools effectively. I see you have a link to your Facebook page and your Twitter page on your website? I am not sure how that fits in with your argument. As a web designer surely you have an understanding of how social tools can enhance user experience and foster productivity? Isn’t it the quest of a web designer to turn business websites into business tools?